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Off-duty Driver Drunk in Charge

31st August 1956, Page 37
31st August 1956
Page 37
Page 37, 31st August 1956 — Off-duty Driver Drunk in Charge
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LONG-DISTANCE drivers who save on lodging allowance by sleeping in the cabs of their vehicles will have to take care following a decision of Salford magistrates last Friday.

The driver of a tanker who used the cab of his vehicle in which to sleep was held to have been legally in charge of the vehicle, although not on driving duty. He was fined £25 for being under the influence of drink when in charge, but the magistrates agreed there were special reasons why he should not be disqualified from driving.

The driver, Lance Bird, aged 42, of Lincoln Street, Castleford, was said to be employed by a Leeds concern which had a depot in SalfOrd.

Mr. J. Meredith, prosecuting, said police officers in Hulme Street, Salford, where the concern's depot was situated, saw four of their vehicles parked outside, ivith a tanker at the front. They saw Bird, who later admitted being the driver, fast asleep in the driving seat with his head hanging across the steering wheel. They had great difficulty in rousing him, and he was so unsteady when he tried to get out that he had to be supported.

Bird said he started work at 7.30 a.m. at Leeds and, after delivering a load of glycerine in Manchester and re-loading at Stanlow, he arrived at the Salford depot at 7.30 p.m. His next job was to take the load to Billingharn, starting at 7.30 next morning. He said the tanker, after he reported his arrival, was in the charge of the foreman at the depot until he took it out again next day.

Some drivers preferred to sleep in the cabs of their vehicles and he had two blankets specially for the purpose.

For the defence, Mr. T. A. Needham said that Bird was in no way in charge of the vehicle, but was merely using it as a dormitory.

POSITION UNDER 1956 ACT

Our legal adviser writes: The Road Traffic Act, 1956, which is not yet in force, makes important changes in the law applicable to these circumstances. It provides by Section 9 that a person shall be deemed not to have been in charge of a motor vehicle if he proves (a) that at the material time there was no likelihood of his driving it while unfit to do so, and (b) that he had not in fact driven it while unfit.

On the facts here, the defendant's chance of acquittal under the new Act would depend upon whether the court found as a fact that there was no likelihood of his driving. If he had put it out of bis own power to do so, such as by handing the ignition key to a friend when he realized his condition, his acquittal would he more likely, hut it should be noted that the word is "likelihood" and not "possibility."

The Act also provides for the first time for a right of appeal against a finding of no special reasons by a court.


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